


More Than You Know

by lyonessheart



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: hd_familyfest, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-06 14:20:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12213021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyonessheart/pseuds/lyonessheart
Summary: Harry can depend on his friend even more than he can imagine.





	More Than You Know

**Author's Note:**

> **Prompt Number:** 28  
>  **Disclaimer:** All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.  
>  **Epilogue compliant?** NO  
>  **Author's Notes:** When I read the prompt, I had a full novel in my head, but then real life interfered, and I ended up writing this short sweet piece. I hope you still like it dear prompter.

Harry's world falls apart on a Thursday afternoon. He has just finished the last reports for Kingsley, about the magical outbursts occurring in England, when the Patronus appears in his house.

"Ward the house."

It doesn't say anything more, but the war is so deeply ingrained in Harry's reflexes that the wards are up, before the silver otter has dissolved. Now only a handful of people are able to enter the property, and they all have given their blood for the access. Even Hermione and Bill agreed that these protections are the strongest while still being legal. The source that they came from was relying heavily on wards itself, so he is certain he is safe.

Harry feels himself shaking. Hermione sounded almost panicked and she never sounds less than calm and collected.

When she comes through the wards only minutes later, she looks distraught and angry, so it must be something bad.

"I will kill the Wizengamot!" She is fuming and he does the only thing he can think of. "I'll make us a cuppa first, and then you can tell me what has you up in arms."

He hasn't finished the sentence in full, when the floo roars to life and spits out another figure that looks equally angry and frightened at the same time.

"Ok, tea and Firewhisky..." He will need it when both of them show up like this.

***

_He couldn't breathe. Blood rushed so loudly in his ears that he stumbled along, deaf and blind for his surroundings. The words he just heard reverberated in his skull loud and louder, until he couldn't focus on anything but getting out of the building. He needed to escape, needed to be far away from the Ministry before he could think of a solution to this godforsaken conundrum. Harry will be so furious when he tells him about this, and he just hoped that he could offer valid help and not make things worse._

_He should not run, not draw attention to himself, there the floos were right in front of him, he grabbed a handful of powder and just as the flames turned green a commotion erupted at the end of the hall._

_“Hold that wizard! Don’t let him get away.” But the witches and wizards around him, looked as baffled as he felt when he heard that very voice condemn their hero._

_He grinned as he flipped them the bird and stepped into the flames, the last word that they hear is “Lions Den.”  
_

***

__

__  
He focuses on the menial task of setting up water, spooning out tealeaves, pouring milk and setting out sugar. When he is done with the mugs, he is calmer again. Stepping out with the tablet he sees two heads bend together talking seriously. He puts the mugs down and settles across from his visitors.

"Ok spill, what has both of you in such a state?" He cannot sit quietly until they will start talking on their own.

Hermione breathes in deeply before she starts talking. "I was at the Wizengamot session today, and they have decided that no wizard should be allowed to have a lot of power to themselves, without being bound to another."

Harry looks at her, not being able to find the trap within these words when Hermione's companion jumps in.

"What she fails to tell you Potter, is that they want to make an example of you. But luckily you have me to thwart their harebrained schemes"

"What?" now he is even more confused, "What are you talking about, Malfoy?" And isn't it ironic that Draco is one of the few people that he trusts enough to let him into his home when it is shut tightly against the world?

"The Wizengamot has decided that it will force you to bond with a candidate of their choice, because it is not fair that you have the freedom to wield your magic without control." Draco is blunt, doesn't even try to cover the bad news with niceties. Harry likes that about him. When Draco came back after four years abroad, fulfilling the sentence that he had been given after the war, he had reached out for Teddy's sake. And now two years later they are... well, something and Harry trusts the former Slytherin to watch out for those he considers family.

"And how do they plan on doing this?" He asks with a deceptive calm.

"They wanted to order you to the Wizengamot, present you with the candidates and proceed with the ceremony immediately." Draco sounds almost amused at the thought that anyone would order Harry anywhere.  
"Let me guess if I did not agree, they would bind me and force someone on me?"

"Not quite- they would give you the option to give up magic entirely. If you declined that, _then_ they would stun you and bind you to their candidate." Hermione throws in.

The frames begin to shake and Draco reaches out. "Calm down, Potter I have a solution."  
Harry just looks at him, and Draco's smile reminds him of a snake.

"You get bonded to someone of your own choice." And it's so easy that Harry can only shake his head. "Malfoy aren't you forgetting a little detail?"

"No, well your selection is not big, but you can make your own choice. You can also decide to leave the country." Draco looks at him.

"Draco how many gay wizards do you know, that would play this game just to thwart the Wizengamot?" He can only shake his head.

"One, and he happens to be available and willing." Is there a light hue of pink on Draco's cheeks?

"Have you lost it now completely?, Draco you cannot mean to bind yourself to me, just to get one over the Wizengamot!"

"And why not?" Defiance blinks up in the clear grey eyes. "Am I not good enough for you? Do you have so many others available?"

"No! You know as well as I do that my love life is nonexistent:" Harry swallows. "Why would you do this?"

"One day you will understand my reasons, for now you can take the life debt that I still owe you." Draco won't budge. By now Harry knows that from experience.

"So let me get this right. You volunteer to get bound to me, which if I remember right is equivalent to marriage in pureblood circles, and we probably have to consummate the union as well?" Harry will not admit that the thought of being intimate with Draco makes a part of his anatomy peak up in interest.

"Yes." Draco turns even pinker at this admission.

Hermione has been quiet throughout their exchange, but now she pitches in. "Even though it is crazy, it is your best option. I am sure they will try to get a hold of you should you leave the wards."

"Could you do the binding?" Harry realizes that they are right. He would rather be with Draco, who he at least knows and who is willing to be with him, instead of someone the Wizengamot deems appropriate.

***

__  
Hermione looks at them, for a bit. what she sees seems to reassure her though.  
"You are sure that you want to do this?" Harry is surprised to see her direct the question at Draco. "You know which bonding spell I should use?

"Amor ligari" Draco answers without a doubt and Harry pauses. He doesn't know much latin, but even he knows the word for love. Draco seemed adamant to do this, and if he doesn't doubt that the binding will take, then who is Harry to doubt him. He smiles at Draco, who gives his freedom freely to protect Harry's own.

There is not much pomp in the ceremony, Hermione indicates for the both of them to grasp their hands. Draco's is cool and dry within Harry's own warm palm.

"Amor ligari." She intones clearly and a golden thread wraps around their hands, Harry feels warmth well up in him, end even though this is not how he imagined getting married, he feels happy to have Draco look at their joined hands with a small smile. He doesn't know what compels him to do so, but he raises their joined hands and presses a soft kiss to the pale knuckles.

"You are mine now, to cherish and protect, just like I am yours." The light pulses gently before it sinks into their skin, and a circle of runes appears around both of their wrists.

Draco stares wide-eyed at his wrist and at Harry.

"Wow."

"Uhm, you may kiss each other?" Hermione sounds doubtful, as if this is the worst idea they could have come up with, but Harry doesn't take notice. He looks at Draco with question in his eyes, and Draco closes the gap between their lips. It is a chaste touch, but it ignites something deep inside of Harry, something he didn't know he was missing.  
Wrapping his arms around Draco comes natural. He pulls him against his own body, sharing the fact that he is shaking.

"I am here." Draco whispers into his ear. "And I will never leave you."  
Harry exhales softly, and hugs Draco closer.

"I need to leave you two now." Hermione seems reluctant to break them up, but leaving without words has never been her forte. "I will try to buy you two time."

He looks at her, over Draco's shoulder, and the warmth he sees in her eyes, lifts him further.  
He is not alone, never has been.

***

__  
  
Once Hermione has left and the two of them are alone, Draco pulls Harry over to the couch and sinks onto it with him. Harry looks at their joined hands and wonders how well they fit together.  
The silence is charged, and Harry gathers his courage for the question he wants to voice.

"So." In the end it is Draco who speaks first. It seems that right now he is the one to take charge, and save Harry.

"So." Harry echoes the statement. Looking at the man who sits next to him, long legs, sharp chin and those grey eyes look at him with undeniable warmth.

"Why?" It seems that right now only one word sentences are possible, but they are better than silence. A tiny twitch around the corner of Draco's mouth makes it easier, to focus, he is married to this man and he has a right to go a little crazy at this moment. He won't break, but a tiny bit crazy here within the protected walls of his home, that is ok.

"Do you really need to ask?" Draco smiles. "We have been in each other's live for how long now?"

"Two years, three months and four days." Harry grins at him. "You showed up with Andy and Teddy and he begged me not to hex your arse."

"Right, and we have gotten good at being good together haven't we?" Draco sounds unsure. "I know we bicker, and I am not that open with my emotions, but I have been trying."

"That you have" Harry stares ahead, he thinks on the countless occasions when Draco has shown up with a beer or for a cuppa. How he kept telling him, that there would be someone out there for him, someone who would get and deserve him and he releases a startled breath when the puzzle pieces click.

"Oh."

Draco grins sardonically, "Figured it out?"

"You couldn't have said something? Maybe tried to date me before we got hitched?" Harry feels as if he has just taken a Bludger to the chest, it feels so tight and hot at the moment, as if his heart wants to burst out of his ribcage.

"I admit, I was still working my courage up to that. But the Wizengamot kinda forced my hand." Draco looks a little unsure "But the reaction to the bonding spell, gives me hope:"

"You mean the fact that we both wear matching rune tattoos?" Harry looks at the circle around his wrist.

"Yeah." Draco looks at his own wrist with wonder, and Harry realizes that he didn't expect it to be there.

"Uhm, you know, you are not the only one who has been trying to gather his courage." Harry feels his cheeks burn. "But I thought you would not want someone so inexperienced."

"Oh" Now it is Draco's turn to look stunned, but he gathers his wits quickly enough. "We do need to consummate the bond, but I think we don't have a problem with this. Do we?"

"If you don't mind teaching me?" Harry is still shell-shocked, but excitement begins to weave its tendrils through his body.

"Oh I don't mind at all." Draco looks downright predatory at him and Apparates them both to the bedroom.

***

It is a Thursday night when Harry's world is put back together. Being with Draco is so different that everything Harry has ever imagined. The overwhelming sense of rightness, and want threatens to pull him under, but Draco makes sure he stays with him. He looks into the familiar grey eyes and discovers the myriad of emotions that play within them as they come together. The wonder and yearning inside of them, mirrored in his own. Harry looks up at his husband, the man who was prepared to give his freedom up, only to discover that Harry feels the same without being able to put words to the emotions fighting within his mind.

People will probably never understand, why Harry had agreed to be with Draco. Not when he had not even known that he loved him when they said their I DOs. But Harry had had something much more important. He had trusted Draco not to hurt him, trusted him to have his best interest at heart, and as far as Harry was concerned that was enough for a start.

That they are wonderful in bed together, is an added bonus. But one that the rest of the world does not need to know.


End file.
